Ooooh! Now those are recipes I can handle. I should have thought about the fried cucumbers myself. We used to make sliced fried tomatos the same way each summer. Another good similar one is potato pancakes. You grate potatoes, mix in some onions and fry them in oil.

Do you have an unmarried older sister?

Hank

Hi Hank,

I hope that you enjoy the recipes. Potato pancakes! I love them and, you know, I haven't made any in years and years.

I DO have an unmarried sister but she is younger, is involved in a serious relationship and really doesn't cook very much. Sorry.

Fried green tomatoes. Now THAT is such good traditional southern food! Being a southern woman, I can fry ANYTHING, although I don't fry as much food as I used to since I also know that too much fried food is not good for us.

Here's a recipe I love that makes great bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwiches using fried green tomatoes.

The chipotle mayonnaise just takes these sandwiches to a whole different level, too.

Dawn

FRIED GREEN TOMATO BLT (This recipe makes 4 sandwiches)

1/2 C. all-purpose flour, divided
1/4 C. yellow cornmeal
1/4 t. salt, divided
1/4 t. ground black pepper, divided
1 egg
1/4 C. buttermilk
1/2 C. olive oil
1 green tomato, sliced into four 1/2" thick slices
8 slices sourdough bread, toasted
1 recipe of Chipotle Mayonnaise (recipe below)
4 leaves Boston lettuce
12 slices bacon, cooked

1. Spoon 1/4 cup of flour into a shallow dish and set it aside.

2. Combine other 1/4 cup of flour, cornmeal, 1/8 t. salt, and 1/8 t. pepper in another shallow dish.

3. In third shallow dish, whisk together the egg with the buttermilk.

5. In a 10" nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat on stovetop.

6. Evenly sprinkle each tomato slice with salt and pepper, using the remaining 1/8 t. of each for all the tomato slices.

7. Dust the tomato slices in the remaining 1/4 C. flour, then dip into the buttermilk mixture, then dredge in cornmeal mixture. Fry the tomatoes in batches, for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until lightly browned and tender.

8. To assemble the sandwiches, evenly spread each slice of toasted bread with the Chipotle Mayonnaise. Layer with lettuce leaf, 3 slices of bacon, and fried tomato.

CHIPOTLE MAYONNAISE (Makes approx. 1/2 C.)

1/2 C. mayonnaise
2T. chopped fresh chives
2 T. minced chipotle peppers
1 green onion,minced
2 t. fresh lime juice
1/8 t. salt

In a small bowl, combine all the above ingredients and blend well. Cover and chill.

My mouth is watering. I love BLT's but won't pay the exhorbitant price restaurants feel they must charge for such a simple sandwich. Kinda like grilled cheese sandwiches, shoule never cost more than a buck for God's sake. Ya know!

But this recipe! I can almost see it now, a fried green tomato BLT with egg on a toasted sesame seed bun coming soon to a McDonalds near you. LOL That chipolte mayo sounds interesting too.

I've never had fried green tomatos that I can recall. I'll have to give them a try this summer.

You wouldn't have an old recipe around for Duck's Blood Soup would you? I know what's missing, dill. Cucumbers, sour cream sauce, beets and dill weed. Funny how memories come back to you.

Hank

Cool Cucumber Soup

4 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 (16-ounce) container low-fat plain yogurt
1 garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon salt

1)In a blender or a food processor, purée all the ingredients until smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender as necessary.

2)Transfer to a large bowl, cover, and chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Serve chilled.

For an extra-sweet touch, add 1 tablespoon honey to the ingredients. And it's nice to garnish each bowl of soup with a cucumber slice and a few sprigs of fresh mint.

Dan,

What a great recipe for a chilled soup.

I was at a wildfire at lunchtime today, supplying the firefighters with gatorade and water and they asked me if I brought them lunch.

I told them I should have brought them a chilled watermelon or canteloupe soup, and they made faces at me. What they really wanted was tortilla soup or taco soup. I LIKE chilled soups, but feel like I am in the minority around here on that one. :)

Dawn

My mother was a fabulous cook (may she hear me braging in Heaven), and she would always badger dad to grow cucumbers. Then she would make cold cucumber soup and a German dish consisting of cucumbers, tomatoes,sliced onions and apple cider vinegar. Now, with temperatures in the 90's I can't tell you how much I miss that cold cucumber soup. Like a child who thought their Mamma would live forever I failed to get her recipe for the soup. However, there's a German restuarant in town that has the Cucs/tomatoes/onions/vinegar as an appetizer. It's like sitting down to my mothers table once again.....Gee, I think I just went down memory lane on the Oklahoma Forum.

Thanks Dan.

Can sour cream and/or cottage cheese substitute for the yogurt. I guess I don't understand when to use those three ingredients. Using vinegar is another one I seem to use and get strange results. Sour cream and vinegar works doesn't it? But with yogurt or cottage cheese doesn't vinegar just screw thing up causing curdle and/or separation?

Hank

Was watching Forrest Gump tonight while catching up on reading internet posts. Shrimp coctails, shrimp gumbo, shrimp, etc., etc., etc. Someone on another list posted the following cucumber recipe site that seemed a lot like the shrimp dishes on Forrest Gump.

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~bcohen/cucumbers/recipes/

Hank

My mom used to make refrigerator pickles. I loved them! Unfortunately I didn't get her recipe either. :)

Lisa

My grandmother used to make refrigerator pickles, too. SEems like it was just something like cider vinegar with maybe sliced onions and garlic.

Yesterday I made gazpacho - to use up tomatoes, mostly, but it also uses up cucumbers and is a cold soup. I am growing Cherokee purples for the first time, and these were perfect, because they are soft. They are also quite prolific - and beautiful. I quartered about 4-5 big, fat tomatoes and put them in the blender, then added a couple of burpless cucumbers from the farmer's market, since my cucumbers aren't producing quite yet. I added about a quarter of a red bell pepper and about a quarter of a red onion, 2 garlic cloves and a handful of basil leaves. I set the blender on chop. When all was pureed, I added the juice of a half a lemon, then remembered ice cubes so I added a handful of ice cubes. Really refreshing. Also added some Tobasco. Later I was watching Oklahoma Gardening, and Barbara Brown was making gazpacho, too. She freezes her tomatoes first instead of adding ice cubes - and she uses canned tomato juice, which I have always used in the past, but since I have such an abundance I figured I would just use more tomatoes. It was really good.

I forgot to mention that when you use Vinegar you always add a little sugar. The German restaurant in town I mentioned uses more then my mom did, but the amount you use is to your own taste. You still want to retain the sweet/tart flavor. I may call my sister to see if she's got mom's cucumber soup recipe. I'm not overly fond of tomatoes, so I liked it much better then Gazpacho. But my DH loves tomatoes so his preference is for the Gazpacho. So I told him he could make his own - LOL.